Mobile, AL: The Spring Hill College men's soccer team earned a hard fought, come from behind, overtime Gulf South Conference (GSC) victory over the University of West Florida 5-4 on Saturday afternoon at Library Field. With the victory, the Badgers now sit alone in first place in the GSC standings with two games remaining.
Spring Hill opened the first half scoring in the 4
th minute when
Matthew Moreno drove a shot into the far post corner from 18 yards out off of an assist by
Cyril Giraud to stake the Badgers to an early 1-0 lead. West Florida answered the early Badger tally with a goal of their own just two minutes later to even things at 1 apiece. The two teams settled into an evenly matched contest for the next 20 minutes before
Alex Lipinski put the Badgers on top 2-1 with a penalty kick goal in the 26
th minute. Spring Hill would maintain the 2-1 advantage into the intermission.
The Argonauts come out of the halftime gate and delivered what they hoped would be a knockout punch to the Badgers on Senior Day by scoring the first three goals of the second half. Their first goal came just 19 seconds into the half to even things a 2-2. UWF capitalized on the momentum and scored two more goals in the 53
rd and 55
th minutes to build out a 4-2 lead and put the home standing Badgers on the ropes. However, the Badgers would not back down. Lipinski cut the deficit to 4-3 with a finish in front of the net on assists from
Vassil Kokali and Schober in the 5
8th minute. Moreno would net the equalizer in the 65
th minute when he scored off a free kick taken by Schober. Neither team could score for the remaining 25 minutes and the teams headed to overtime.
In the overtime period, the Badgers went to work quickly. Instead of looking to pass, Schober kept the ball and defeated the Argonaut defenders to score the unassisted game winner just 3 minutes into overtime. The score secured the 5-4 victory and advanced the Badgers to sole possession of first place in the GSC standings with two games remaining.
"This was one of the greatest games I have been a part of," said head coach
Steve Wieczorek. "I am so proud of our guys for never giving in and fighting back again and again to win another game in overtime. They are a special group of people. I am also thankful and appreciative fo the leadership of our seniors; Jackson, Barou, Haukur, Jack and Tilman. They are truly great men and are the main reasons for our success. We'll certainly enjoy the win but we need to remain focused as there is more work to do. Delta State and Mississippi College are on the horizon."
The Badgers (13-1, 9-0 GSC) will conclude the regular season when they travel to take on Delta State University on Thursday, October 25
th at 3:30 PM and then Mississippi College on Saturday, October 27
th at 3:30 PM.
